Exposure to career options is known to help middle school students find their educational interests. For that reason, four teachers from Erie 1 BOCES Career and Technical Education Services joined 31 local businesses at Hamburg Middle School’s career fair.

“Each session was 11 minutes long and presented to a group of about 10 interested students,” Sean Vittum, counselor from Hamburg, said. “There were four repeating sessions in total. All 35 presenters did a wonderful job.”

Welding teacher Dan Feeney and automotive technology teacher Chuck Shevlin from Potter Career & Technical Center connected with their colleagues from Harkness Career & Technical Center at the event. The team, which also included cyber-security teacher Rafael Estrada and fashion design teacher Darlene Borchert, provided brief demonstrations. They also answered many questions of the eager middle school students, including the types of careers that are associated with their fields.

“We enjoy the opportunity to support local school districts with their student enrichment activities,” Lucas Vogel, assistant principal of Potter, said. “At the same time, we are also able to introduce youth to career and technical education.”

Vittum appreciates the partnership, stating, “At the Hamburg School District, we are huge believers in career education - particularly those we offer through our cooperative, Erie 1 BOCES. We get to educate our kids with a great program that has highly skilled teachers.”